Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Hello fellow plastic crack addicts,

I am going to do a series of articles relating to the range of battle forces
that Games Workshop produce and I will review in-depth the models contained in
each battle force box.

I am going to ask the question:

1.Do
you get much of a saving buying the battle force?

2.Will
you use every model contained in the battle force?

There are 12 battle forces in total so I am splitting each one up into a
separate article, however I will break this series up with in between articles
so were are not all battle forced out. I will also rate each unit in the battle
force and give it a score out of 2.5 and hopefully the results will accumulate and
give a total score at the end of the review.

Score Table

Eldar Battle Force

So I'm going to start off with the Eldar Battle Force since
I am most familiar with each unit that is contained in it. Lets look at what
you get:

Five
man Dire Avengers squad with an Exarch

Guardian
Defender Squad with Heavy Weapon Platform

Wave
Serpent Transport

Eldar
War walker

At a quick glance it certainly isn't the worst collection of
units so lets break the units down and see what we can do with it.

Dire Avengers

WS

BS

S

T

W

I

A

Ld

Sv

Dire Avenger

4

4

3

3

1

5

1

9

4+

Dire Avengers are still currently one of our best troop
choices that we have but don't let that fool you, they are still T3 and a OK 4+
armour save. Sure they are WS4 and I5 but they are not a dedicated CC unit by
any means nor are they a formidable gun line unit. They are good all rounder's
and their true strength lies within their Exarch's powers.

These are:

Blade Storm

The Exarch and his unit may fire one additional shot each
that turn so a unit of 5 can fire 15 Str4 AP5 shots but the penalty for this is
that the unit cannot fire in the consecutive turn. This power is useful and
good when paired with dual catapults on the Exarch.

Defend

With this power the Exarch reduces 1 attack from the
attacking enemies squad per turn to a minimum of 1 attack. This works well with
a shimmer shield and a Dire Sword as you will know that your unit is going to
be in close combat at some stage to try and "Tar pit" an enemy unit.

I can see the place of this unit in the battle force itself
as a shock unit that is mounted into the wave serpent and flown across the
table hoping that the Wave serpent doesn't get blown up into little pieces and then
disembarks next to an enemy unit and unloads using blade storm to inflict
maximum casualties.

My only irk with this unit is its numbers. Five T3 4+ Sv
guys are not going to survive long and my only thoughts are that you would have
to inflict maximum damage on the turn you disembark hoping that you kill enough
so that the enemy unit doesn't have enough chaps left to fire back at you next
turn.

If this unit was a larger size I would give it + 2.5 for definite
but unfortunately the unit size really does let this inclusion down and without
a doubt you would have to boost this to 8-10 Avengers for it to be more survivable
and inflict the appropriate amount of damage to be willing to dump them out of
a wave serpent and in the path of your enemies units.

Verdict 1.3

Guardian Defenders

WS

BS

S

T

W

I

A

Ld

Sv

Guardian

3

3

3

3

1

4

1

8

5+

Warlock

4

4

3

3

1

4

1

8

-

Ok I am going to be honest here... I don't like saying it as
I love Eldar so so so much but it just has to be put out there.... Guardian
Defenders are the worst troop choice in the game. There I said it!

Why you ask?

They can't hit the broad side of a barn door, BS3 with a
12" ranged weapon need i say more?

They couldn't even beat an egg, WS3, STR 3, T3, 1 attack.

So we know they cant do much really except be there.... oh
and maybe try camp an objective. And this is where their strength lies guys.
Take a unit of 20 guardian defenders with a warlock and embolden and just sit
on an objective in cover and if a lot of fire is directed their way just go to
ground and hope for the best.

If you are going to take a heavy weapon I would recommend
the Shuriken Cannon or the Scatter Laser. Personally I would take the Scatter
laser since for 15pts I think 4 STR 6 shots at 36" range is well worth it.

In saying all that we don't have 20 Guardians here we have
10 with a 12" range except for the heavy weapon. They have no Warlock support
so are Ld8. Please god let guardians get some sort of improvement in our next
codex.

Verdict 1.0

Wave Serpent Transport

BS

Front Armour

Side Armour

Rear Armour

Wave Serpent

3

12

12

10

Behold our premier mode of transport the Wave Serpent. Base
price is a whopping 90pts but you must take
a turret option so this just adds to the already expensive points cost for a
transport tank. Ok I know I started off a little bit negatively but there
really isn't many more negatives about this tank. Yes it's 6th edition and all
tanks took a whack of the nerf bat but it's still a very good tank.

Its max AV is 12 which is OK but it will get a 5+ invulnerable
save as long as it moves. It has 3 hull points and a special energy field that
negates the effects of melta and Ordinance rolling 2d6 for armour penetration.
Also any weapon that fires on it over STR 8 stays as STR 8.

It can carry 12 models which is always handy and has very
flexible armament options. I usually run mine as a dual Shuriken cannon load out.
That is one cannon on the chin and a twin linked Shuriken cannon on the turret,
however in this battle force list I would be tempted to upgrade the turret to a
Twin Linked Bright Lance since 36" range would be nice for taking out some
enemy armour, not that there would be much at this point level but you never
know.

Don't bother with Spirit Stones or any of the upgrades to be
honest. The tank is a transport tank not a battle tank so it's main function is
to get its contents to where they are supposed to be supporting them if needs
be. Keep it cheap if at all possible.

This is still a good tank and you will use it right up to
your 2000pts games. The only thing I can fault it on is its cost and for that
it loses a .5.

Verdict 2.0

War Walker

WS

BS

S

I

A

Front Armour

Side Armour

Rear Armour

War Walker

3

3

5

4

2

10

10

10

The good ol War Walker...
The Guardian on a lanky pair of stilts, well that's what the old model
resembled more however the current model is a far superior to its predecessor.
But in saying that it still is only a guardian driving this thing. This thing
that is only AV 10 with 3 hull points and is as tall a lamp-post.

Wow this thing must really suck right?? Wrong! This is
probably the best unit in the box and here's why. They cost 30 points basic,
they can equip two heavy weapon each and even if you equip the same weapon it
doesn't count as twin linked but as two individual weapons. They can also scout
if you want to come in and hit that side armour and even though the guardian is
sitting there in his open air cockpit, it isn't open-topped bizarrely.

The best way to field these in my opinion is with two
scatter lasers at 60pts per model. In a larger game you could take a squadron
(3) of these with scatter lasers pumping out 24 STR 6 shots at 36" range.
If you have a Farseer you can guide those BS3 shots giving re-rolls to hit. I
would be tempted to fill out my entire heavy support section with 9 War Walkers
with Scatter Lasers with 72 STR 6 shots.

In this battle force I would give it the two Scatter Lasers
and just remain behind cover sniping from 36" away. Overall a very solid
unit if played right and kept at range.

Verdict 2.5

So there you have it and with a respectable score of 6.8 it puts this battle force in the Good category. Its's certainly functional just not all units contained in it are up to scratch. It score really was carried by the Wave Serpent and War Walker.

If you were thinking of starting an Eldar Army though I think you could do alot worse than buying this battle force. You will probably use all the models in it one way or another. Guardians have the use's, few i know but they do and the Dire Avengers can be boosted up by buying an additional box of them to make two squads of 7 and 8. Infact buying two of these battle forces wouldn't be a bad investment for laying the foundations of an army.

NWG stands for North Wexford Gamers and used to be the main wargaming club in south east Ireland. This has now been superseeded by a new gaming club called The Last Chancers (TLC). However NWG still holds an annual Warhammer 40k and Warhammer fantasy Tournament every year around late august/early September. I got the Saim Army done after crazy amount of hours put into my it. It really brought speed painting to a new level. I dont know if many of you have done similar but when your girlfriend/wife starts complaining that your project is getting more attention than them you know you are making good progress!

I think I finished around mid-table (10th) in the end and was happy on how things went. I also won players choice best painted award so I was over the moon for that.

For its first outing it did quite well as I had to learn the tactics pretty much on the spot which proved a challenge. I knew the individual units were quite weak however like most Eldar armies they cant take much punishment but can dish out a hell of a lot of fire power.

I need to protect and be smart with my 4 Guardian squads.
The Seer Counsil is AWESOME!
People really fear Fire Prisms
The Nightwing is brokenly good
Vypers are under estimated these days

The army as a whole is very mobile and needs to concentrate its fire on a single point until its dead and then move onto the next target. The army itself isnt the easiest to play however when it comes together well it provides an abundance of fun.